Fastnet v Slownet

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L208 – Eda Frandsen – 1938 traditional gaff rigged lobster boat originally built in Denmark – enjoying a fair breeze in the early evening sunshine.

At 12:00BST today the multihulls, the greyhounds of modern day sailing, crossed the line for the start of the 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race.  Last night the slightly slower Eda Frandsen rounded Ard Thurnish having left Mallaig for a week exploring the Small Isles and the Outer Hebrides.  The Eda Frandsen no doubts shares more in common with the yachts that must have competed in the first Fastnet race of 1925 but even then she is clearly no whippet of the seas.  Instead her natural stability make her an ideal vessel for her new life of providing traditional sailing holidays without a winch in site.  The reward for working over 2000 foot of sail by block and tackle?  A healthy appetite satisfied by some the best and freshest shell fish you can find.  Now that is something that the freeze dried ration fed sailors of the Fastnet would be envious of.

 

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